Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
In 2021, we integrated ESG criteria into our strategy. While we had already aligned with many ESG aspects, we've since formalized our approach, embedding ESG into our decision-making, internal frameworks, and external communications.
ESG is central to our organization
The concept of ESG – Environmental, Social and Governance monitoring and reporting – has gained in importance among European companies over the past few years, aligning with the changing regulatory landscape of the EU. Holland Colours, too, has aligned itself with this change. ESG represents an evolution from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitments, something that Holland Colours has always been strongly committed to.
As a result, while the ESG terminology is new, some of the principles it covers are already built into Holland Colours’ ESG strategy. For the full ESG reporting, please have a look at our ESG report.
ESG ROADMAP 2021-2025
In 2023/2024, we took a further step by setting up a dedicated organizational structure and assigning key roles and responsibilities for the various aspects of ESG. This further emphasizes our commitment to integrating sustainability across the company. We also renewed our materiality assessment to follow the ‘double materiality’ approach outlined by the CSRD and put the process in place. Integrating CSRD and its ESRS requirements into the company is a step-by-step process. Below is the roadmap we are following.
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Transition
- Started preparing for introduction of CSRD reporting directive
- New baseline for implementation of Scope 1, 2 and 3
- Integrated ESG reporting as part of overall strategy and reporting in Annual Report
- Completed definition measurements for sustainable products and analyzing first part of product portfolio
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Integration
- Renew double materiality analysis: inside-out (diversity, health and development employees, CO2, waste); outside-in (raw material shortage, attractiveness as employer, CO2, new business models)
- Annual Report follows CSRD guidelines
- Gap analysis
- All products analyzed for sustainability
- Sustainability ambitions fully embedded as part of the renewed company strategy
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Future-Proof
- Fully audited reporting according to CSRD and EU Taxonomy declarations
- Sustainability topics fully embedded as part of regular business operations and reviews
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Moving Forward
- Data collection strategy integrated (and available from April 2025)
- Limited assurance on ESG reporting in accordance with CSRD and EU Taxonomy declarations
- Sustainability topics are fully embedded as part of regular business operations and reviews
Sustainability
Holland Colours’ mission is to contribute to the development of a sustainable industry. This involves collaborating as ‘co-design partners’ to develop solutions that align with our clients’ ESG objectives.
On the technology side, our pigment encapsulation technology has sustainability built into its formulation as it uses renewable resources. This puts us in a strong position to meet our clients’ growing sustainability demands. Meeting sustainability and circular economy demands will be crucial for Holland Colours’ ongoing success.
Our sustainability programs focus on three main areas: our process, our products and
our people. Our ESG efforts in these areas derive from a selection of the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). Of the 17 SDGs, we selected seven that are most relevant to Holland Colours internally, to our clients, to brand owners and to our value chain partners.
They can be grouped into 3 broad categories.
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Our People
We protect the safety, health and welfare of HCA employees and offer development opportunities to all. Given our geographical spread, we consider it important to employ nationally.
We invest at least 2% per year of our personnel expenses in responsible care for our employees. This is used to deliver training, for development and as time that can be spent on social aid activities.
Our Processes
We service our customers with products that are produced regionally, and we design our processes to support the sustainable use of energy and raw materials.
By 2030, we will have reduced the CO2 impact of our operational activities by between 30% and 50%.
Our Products
Together with our customers and partners, we co-create sustainable solutions and develop products that enable recycling, the reduction of food waste and the reduction of energy consumption.
We will structurally increase our annual investment in innovation. By 2030, 90% of our revenue will be based on products that contribute to sustainability.
Our People
Faced with an increasingly complex world, we are building a more unified, resilient and flexible organization. The aim is to improve our commercial strength, efficiency and synergy as a company. In 2023/2024, we redesigned our organization to prepare us to capture the benefits of our updated strategy goals.
As well as changing the organizational structure, we are building on our competencies. Doing so will enable us to learn and act faster as an organization and for each of us to be more proactive.
Our ambition is to reinvest at least 2% per year of our personnel expenses in our employees. This is used to stimulate their development, deliver training, to support individual and team development and/or as time that can be spent on local charity and volunteering activities. Every division has allocated 2% of their budget for People Development.
“We don't just sell a product. We have very dedicated, well-trained colleagues who really take care of our customers and ensure they're ready for tomorrow."
Health and Safety
Our number one priority is to provide a safe and healthy working environment for our people.
We therefore train and encourage our employees to report incidents, accidents and near misses. This is so that we can learn from them and improve our processes, procedures and behavior.
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Our processes
Regarding the sustainability of our processes, our main focus has been on our GHG emissions. We are dedicated to minimizing our carbon footprint and effectively managing greenhouse gas emissions across all three scopes.
In 2023/2024, we continued with the new carbon footprint analysis based on the newly adopted Greenhouse gas Protocol guidelines. An external audit was carried out to determine the most suitable emission factors. In Scope 3, waste is one of the two most significant factors contributing to our overall carbon footprint. Accordingly, we will continue to focus on reducing our waste and discussing possible improvements with our suppliers to lower our emissions. Employee commuting by car is also a focus, and we are working with employees to promote sustainable travel to address this issue as well.
At Holland Colours, we have defined a sustainable product as follows:
- it enables our customer to have a lower cradle-to-gate CO2/kg equivalent impact in material usage versus the main alternative solution in a specific application subsegment; or
- it enables our customer to have a lower CO2/kg equivalent impact in their production versus the main alternative solution; or
- it supports the increased recycling of materials.
